October 2025 from the VISA Program

I'm officially halfway through the first term of my art certificate program at VISA!

Painting Light & Space:

Nova Scotia homestead:

Canadian Landscapes (charcoal and chalk pastels).

Laughlin Lake, Galiano Island:

Pacman Nebula (yes ths is a Canadian Landscape):

Painting Inspired by Photographs:

Golden Thistles (from Sonya's garden):

NYC Skyline:

Alpine Landscape:

And a bunch more from my Reflections series (from Series Painting):

 

September 2025 from the VISA Program

 I'm 3 weeks into my art certificate program at VISA and here is what I've produced so far:

Canadian Landscapes (charcoal drawings).

Two views of a prairie church (low horizon and high horizon):

The Canadian Rockies:

Painting inspired by photographs.

Reflections of White Rock:

Sonya waiting patiently for the train in Nine, Portugal (on the way to the Camino):

Two views of Chris kayaking just off Jedehiah Island:

One of my sunflowers:

Painting a series - Reflections.

Two views of a reflection taken in Nova Scotia this summer:

Paintings (and drawings) - Summer 2025

 I took a few courses over the summer at the Vancouver Island School of Art, to warm myself up for my full-time studies in the fall.

A pencil and ink sketch of McKergow Meadows in Vernon, BC:

An abstract rendition of Sonya's garden:

Memories of my recent Tanzania safari (watercolour and ink):

A slightly imagined view from my home office (I call this one "InFill"):

Scenes from a crowd watching a parade (pencil drawing from a photo, probably from the 1970's):

Leon from BladeRunner, after he's just seen his partner "retired":

View of Kings Cove, Newfoundland:

An imagined view of the new development near my place in Vic West (acrylic):

More imagined gardens:

Painting of a paper collage, in the style of Jack Witton:

And finally a couple of portraits of my one and only houseplant (which I've kept alive for about 4 years now):

Some Recent Paintings

 A few paintings I've been working on this year, in my spare time (which I have lots of now that I'm retired).

Study of one of Claude Monet's church series (studying his use of colour):

Brentwood Bay Mailbox (minus the mailbox :-P):

Tribute to the graffiti exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York:

Claude Monet's Water Lilies (we were fortunate to be able to visit Giverny last year): 

Sonya's Garden:

Fields in the French Alps:

Tanzania Sunset:

Still Life of Flowers in a Vase:

Final days in Arusha

We spent our last two days in Arusha doing a lot of not very much, although we did a nice hike to the waterfalls, and a bit of shopping (to spend our last shillings).  Now we’re at the Kilimanjaro airport waiting for our flight, and looking forward to 30+ hours of travelling.

Start of the hike to the waterfalls (about a half hour drive outside of Arusha).

A scenic hike!

Helping an old man cross the river. (There were about a dozen river crossings and we both fell in at one point or another.)

Trumpet Lilly.

The falls!!!  This is dry season - during wet season Sonya would be up to her neck (and in fact you can’t even hike to the falls).

Food!  This is a traditional Tanzanian meal, chicken with sauce and bananas.

Wandering the main drag in Arusha.

The obligatory tomato pic.

At the airport. Lineups here work pretty much how they do in China.